The Hourglass
by Amarix
Summary: Reunite with our favorite heroes as they return to the land of their dreams just in time to face a new threat. Follow them as they battle crazy love lives, weird little orcs and weird big orcs, strange plants, and their own untimely death. Yes, death. Read now, because time is ticking for our heroes... Sequel to the Compass, part 2 of 3 in the Travelers series.
1. The OCP

**Here it is, my loyal Compass lovers and newbies alike! The first chapter of the Hourglass! Just an FYI: This does start off a teensey bit slow, so expect their trip to Middle Earth to happen, like, in the next chapter or something. But don't give up hope! **

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**Liz - December 2nd - Colorado**

The Shadow tattoo is still there. On my left shoulder. Usually, I'm not very fond of tattoos, but I guess I'm fine with it, because even though it comes with memories of a jerkface and bad decisions, it reminds me that Middle Earth wasn't a dream.

Not that I need reminding. I'll never forget what happened in Middle Earth. And my tattoo and castle token are proof enough for me. I also have my very magical Lord of the Rings book. Plus, we all still have our powers. At the beginning of the summer, I went to a lot of Hallie's fencing tournaments. Eventually, she quit fencing, because her room was getting kind of cluttered from the number of awards. Now she just practices.

The four of us went to the Renaissance fair in July. It was really hot, but we still had a lot of fun. While we were there, we watched an extremely skilled archer. He was really good, shooting things behind his back and all. Eddy decided he wanted to challenge him. And of course, Eddy won.

Iris helped out at the hospital all summer. She did discreetly use some of her healing magic on some of the patients, but there were some who she couldn't save. Instead, she tried to make their lives as painless and happy as possible before their time ran out. She also practiced some of her spells when there were only the four of us around, but not much of the explosive ones.

As for me, I decided to take kung fu classes (I'm half-chinese), because I wanted to improve my close-combat fighting skills. I'm definitely not as good as Eddy is at taekwondo, but I'm getting there. I mostly practice my shadewalking at night time, although sometimes it's fun to sneak around invisible and freak my brother out.

Even though Gandalf assured me that shadewalking wasn't going to have any... disastrous side-effects anymore, I'm still kind of iffy about it. I've only been practicing things that I already know, and none of the stuff I would normally use in combat. I don't think I'm ready for that yet.

Anyways... our summers were pretty exciting. But it was nothing compared to our time in Middle Earth. Even though it was filled with a lot of betrayal, fighting, etc. Even so, it was a great experience. I hope that next time we go there... we can actually enjoy it. Going to Middle Earth was one of the best things that ever happened to me.

Which is why I sighed when I walked through the doors of my high school. Another dull day. The weather matched my mood as well. Wet, snowy, and bleak. It was almost Winter Break (thank goodness), so that meant that second semester was almost over (yes!), which meant... finals (not so awesome).

Junior year hadn't been all that bad so far. I turned sixteen in August, so I could finally drive myself places. But junior year also means standardized tests and college prep. Fun...not. Everyone has been pushing me to choose a major, college, blah blah blah. Quite frankly, I'm tired of it. I can't think of anything. My friends are practically set on what they want to do in the future. Iris is going to medical school, Eddy's doing aerospace engineering (he's got an internship too!), and Hallie's thinking about going into bioengineering or nuclear weapons design- she can't decide.

As for me... I haven't the slightest idea.

I groaned, plopping my stuff down on my desk in first-hour AP Calc, slumping down in my seat, which was right next to Hallie's.

"What wrong with you? Did you stay up all night doing homework?" Hallie inquired, blue eyes looking at me quizzically.

I nodded. That wasn't the only reason I was feeling particularly gloomy today, but I didn't feel like elaborating. Hallie decided to leave me alone and the bell rang.

Our teacher, Ms. Tait, had us pass in our homework, and then she handed out the tests that we had taken last week. I held my breath. The test had been really hard, and even though I had studied as much as I could, I still didn't know the material very well. Alright, so I didn't study as much as I should have. But I seriously can't sit down and study. It's really hard for me.

80%. Great. I had just managed to get a B. I was barely holding on to my overall B in the class. I was going to have to get a really good grade on the math final if I wanted to keep my grade above a C. I took a look at Hallie's test, and she got a 92%. She was lucky... she could probably fail the math final and still get an A at the end of the semester.

After that, gave us a huge review packet that was due by the end of the week.

This day couldn't possibly get any worse, I thought.

AP Lit was alright. Except for the sense of impending doom that came over me when the teacher explained what the final was going to be like. A huge essay, plus a big multiple-choice test over all the books we read that semester. Ugh. I didn't even remember a lot of the books that we had read that year, except for Beowulf, because it was the inspiration for The Hobbit.

I had third hour off, so I tried to tackle my 10-page Calculus review packet. I worked on it until my eyes got tired of looking at numbers and I wanted to bang my head repeatedly on the library table.

So as you can imagine, I wasn't in a good mood when lunch rolled around.

As usual, Iris and Eddy strolled up to our table holding hands. Hallie plopped down a second later, looking exasperated. When I looked questioningly at her, she held up a huge AP Chem review packet. Yikes.

"I hate finals," Hallie moaned.

I rolled my eyes. "Who doesn't?"

"Hey," Iris said, as if she'd had an idea, "how about we get together this weekend and study?"

"That sounds great, Iris!" Eddy replied enthusiastically, squeezing her hand and smiling at her. Hallie and I mimed gagging. Those two were constantly giving me oogies.

"Yeah, how about we get together at the library on Saturday? We can get a study room and go get food when we're hungry," Hallie said.

"Sounds good to me," I muttered, still in a slightly bad mood, "What time do you want to meet?"

Iris finally looked away from Eddy. "How about ten o'clock?"

"That works for me," Eddy said, checking his phone. We all replied that it would work for us too.

During lunch, both Hallie and I tackled our review packets with pencil in one hand and a sandwich in the other. I knew that I was going to be getting a lot more review packets later today. Why had I decided to take so many AP classes this year? It was practically suicide...

I hate finals.

**Iris - December 4th - Bleh.**

I gave a long sigh. "You have defeated me, review packet," I said.

"Hey, don't be like that," Eddy said. "Here, let me help you." He looked over my trigonometry packet. "What do you need help with?"

"Everything," I said, leaning back in my chair and closing my eyes in frustration. It was fourth hour, and we were in the library.

"Use your notes to help you," Eddy said.

"Ugh, I don't even understand my own notes. I don't get any of this." I felt slightly guilty for taking out my frustration on Eddy. It wasn't his fault that today had been terrible. It was mostly because of orchestra today. I was the concertmaster (the best in the orchestra), which meant that I had a solo for the upcoming concert next week, and Ms. Palmer (the orchestra director) had been pointing out every little mistake that I made. It was really frustrating.

Of course, Eddy was there, so he understood. I'm so lucky to have such an amazing boyfriend. "Well, how about we go to Starbucks after school? Not to study or anything. I think you just need to relax. It'll help you focus."

That sounded absolutely amazing. I could use a mocha. "That sounds great...thanks."

The rest of the day passed quickly. After a quick stop at my locker and telling Liz that I didn't need a ride home from her today after all (I usually drive myself to school, but my mom needed my car today), I hopped into Eddy's car and we headed to Starbucks.

When I got my peppermint mocha, and Eddy his cup of tea, we sat down at a corner table. It was really nice to just relax and not have to worry about the reason why my backpack was so heavy.

"Thanks Eddy," I said. "This was just what I needed."

He smiled. "Yeah, I figured."

"Sometimes I wish I could just go on vacation and not have to worry about finals."

"We could always pop back to Middle Earth," Eddy joked.

We fell silent for a moment. I subconsciously reached for my token, which was always in my pocket. "Do you...think we're actually going to go back?" I asked.

"I honestly don't know. I mean... we have these tokens, but we don't even know how to use them. I don't even know how many years have passed in Middle Earth, but I know it goes by much faster. It's only been nine months since we got back."

"You're right, but I wish we could go back," I said sadly. "I never got to see Arwen, and she and Aragorn have a son. And I want to know what happened to Haldir!"

"Same... but the only one who knows how to bring us back is Gandalf. I'm sure that Aragorn would have brought us back again if he knew how."

I was half afraid that they had already forgotten us. "Didn't Liz and Hallie go to Middle Earth a couple times this summer?" Liz and Hallie had apparently found out that they could visit Middle Earth by touching the pages of Liz's enchanted Lord of the Rings book. They would show up at the event that they pointed at, like the battle at Helm's Deep or Bilbo's eleventy-first birthday party. I still wasn't quite sure if they had been lying or not.

"That's what they said. I'm not sure I believe them. And even if what they said was true, they only went to the time during the War of the Ring."

"Good point." I sighed. "It's disappointing. Although... I'm not really sure if I actually want to go back."

"Why?" Eddy asked, making me a little hesitant to continue.

"Because... well... last time we were there, we had to save the world, and there were so many battles, and you almost died, and well... it wasn't exactly the magical visit to Middle Earth that I had imagined before."

"It might not have been what we imagined, but I think that we became better people because of it."

"That is true..." Our friendship had grown stronger. Eddy and I discovered that we cared about each other. But... I still wasn't sure. What if we were only called back because the world needed saving again?

"Look at the time," Eddy said, getting up and picking up his cup of tea. "I'd better get you home, or your mom will have my head."

Before I got into the car, Eddy gave me a hug. He was a lot taller than me. Seven inches taller, to be exact, at 5'7". But I felt safe in his embrace. "Hey, don't worry so much about everything."

I looked up into his eyes. I loved his eyes - they were such a bright blue. "Thanks Eddy. You're the best." We stood in the snow, which was beginning to come down again. He pressed a soft kiss to the top of my head, and I wished I could have stayed there forever.

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**Oh my goodness. #EdwirisForever. So, ya know, review and such. Remember, the Untold Tales is still going on, so make sure you tell us where we should go and who we should see!**


	2. The Library and Other Odd Places

**Hey, loyal readers and newbies alike! Welcome to chapter two, in which our favorite heroes grace the streets of -agh!- well then. Apparently I'm not supposed to tell you where they're gracing streets, so you'll have to find out.**

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**Eddy - December 6th - Finals are coming up and I think I'm going to die**

Finals are in two weeks. I'm mostly worried about the AP Lit final and the spanish final. But after that's all over, it'll be Winter Break.

"Hey, your birthday's next week," I said to Iris. She turns seventeen on the 13th, meaning that she's half a year older than me, but whatever. "Are you planning to do anything special?"

Iris shrugged. "Not really."

"Well I have an idea," Hallie said. "We should all go see the Desolation of Smaug!"

"That's a great idea!" Liz said excitedly. "It'll be a great way to de-stress before finals start."

It was a good idea. The perfect way to celebrate.

"I'm so excited for part 2," Liz continued. "It's going to be so awesome!"

"You know," Hallie started. "I'm still wondering how Peter Jackson made all the sets and characters look exactly like they are in Middle Earth."

"Maybe Peter Jackson went to Middle Earth too! And maybe he has enchanted LotR and Hobbit books." They grinned at each other, obviously thinking about their so-called trips to Middle Earth via enchanted book.

"Next time we go to Middle Earth, you should bring the Hobbit with you," Hallie said excitedly. "And then we could meet Thorin!"

"We could see Thorin," Liz said. "but we can't actually talk to him. It's against the rules." Gosh, those two are just weird...

"I honestly don't think Thorin would run around telling people he saw two teenaged girls pop out of thin air. They'd think he had lost his marbles."

Liz and Hallie went on like that for a while, debating whether or not they should talk to Thorin when they went. I rolled my eyes. I was pretty sure that the whole "magical Lord of the Rings book" was just a show for Iris and I. To keep our hopes up, maybe?

As much as I missed Middle Earth, I wasn't sure if we were ever going to go back. I mean, it had been nine months since our first trip, and with each day that passed, Middle Earth was seeming more and more like a dream. I mean, I had my token, and my powers... but still.

I had more important things to worry about. I couldn't sit around all the time fantasizing about imaginary worlds like a kid. The future was looming and I needed to be prepared.

"Guys," I cut into their argument. "Are you seriously arguing about something as inconsequential as "meeting" Thorin Oakenshield?"

The both stared at me like I had grown a second head. "Don't be such a spoilsport, Eddy," Liz said.

"No, I'm serious."

"Stop being so serious then!" Hallie said. "Iris, is Eddy always this serious on dates? You guys must have the lamest dates ever!"

"Guys. I doubt we're going to Middle Earth again. Stop acting like that's the only thing that matters. Finals are next week. Liz, aren't you supposed to submit your college applications by next week? Have you even thought about it?"

"Come on, Eddy, what's wrong with you? We're just having a little fun! Life doesn't always have to be so serious," Hallie said crossly.

"I'm just saying that you're getting a little old to be fangirling over Lord of the Rings."

They both gasped, which sounded quite exaggerated to me. "How could you say that?" Hallie said, blue eyes widening considerably.

Iris just looked at the three of us, obviously deciding that she wasn't going to get involved.

"You guys have to accept that we're probably not going back. It was a one-time deal, okay? This is our home! Not Middle Earth! It... it was really just a dream. Nothing more. Maybe we swallowed some bad seawater or something." I said.

Iris, Liz, and Hallie looked at me like I was crazy. "I can't believe you'd say something like that," Liz said quietly.

I looked each of them in the eye. Turning, I walked in the direction of my car. Why couldn't they just accept reality? We weren't ever going back.

Were we?

**Hallie - December 7th - The Library and Other Odd Places**

Just as we'd planned, the four of us met up again at ten o'clock at the library to study. Liz and I were actively avoiding Eddy since his "breakdown" yesterday. I still couldn't believe he'd said all that. What was getting into him?

We reserved a study room and piled into the ever-elusive Study Room B (I swear, it takes forever to find that place). Iris and Eddy sat on one end of the table, opening their trigonometry books, and Liz and I sat on the other with our AP Lit essay rubrics in front of us.

It took all of about fifteen minutes for Liz and I to get bored with English. "I hate writing essays," said Liz, sighing and throwing her rubric across the room. "Why do we have to write an essay?"

"To make sure that we can actually write." I pulled my coin out of my pocket and absentmindedly started flipping it. I loved the sound it made as it flew through the air- almost like a tuning fork.

"I have nothing wrong with writing... but essays just suck," Liz groaned. She looked over at me. "Heads."

"What?" I responded. Then I realized she was talking about my coin. "Oh." I flipped it again, and caught it in my hand. "Seems like you're right."

She smiled. "Call it," I said.

"Heads again, I guess."

I flipped the coin. Tails. "I won this round!"

It went on like that for thirty minutes or so, with Eddy occasionally glaring at us- our signal to keep quiet. We ignored him. Liz eventually got bored with flipping the coin and turned to her Lord of the Rings book. Did I mention it was enchanted?

I flipped my coin again, earning me another glare from Eddy. I stretched out my hand to catch the coin, but missed, and the coin landed on Liz' open book. I reached over and grabbed it, apologizing. Liz looked up at me, starting to say something, but stopped. Her eyes grew wide and she gasped. I turned around to look behind me.

Was that... Osgiliath?

Liz and I, now used to the random visits to Middle Earth courtesy of Liz' enchanted book, instantly looked for a place to hide. "Liz," I hissed over at her, "What page did you have it open to?"

"The Appendices."

I stared over at her, confused. We'd never transported via the Appendices before, not for the lack of trying. And... we'd never transported anywhere with my coin. Was that the key all along?

We dragged Iris and Eddy over behind a stone pillar. They were both staring around them, eyes wide. That was another mystery. Usually the book only transported people that touched it. What was going on?

Liz was staring at the city. I could see the gears turning in her brain. Suddenly she turned to me. "The city's been rebuilt."

It had. Osgiliath was once again a shining glory and fully operational. That meant... it couldn't be. "We're really back. At the right time. We're back."

Eddy looked freaked out, to be honest. "You mean... all those times you said you went to Middle Earth with Liz' book... were real?"

I smiled at Liz. "Of course," I responded.

"But this time," Liz interjected, "I don't think my book had anything to do with it."

Iris was facing away from us. I was about to ask her if she was okay when suddenly I noticed what she was looking at. Embedded into the mountain, not so far away, was a city made of white stone. It had seven levels, and jutting out in between them was a large mass of stone that looked somewhat like the hull of a ship. "Minas Tirith," Iris breathed.

I looked around at my friends. "We need to get there."

Eddy looked confused. "Why?"

"Because as far as we know, Aragorn is there. And if it's our time again, we could use some friends."

We were all thinking about Raordell. He'd vaporized at the end of the battle last time we were here, but we didn't know if any of his allies were still out on the hunt for us. If there were more shadewalkers around, we could definitely use the King of Gondor on our side.

"Well then," Liz said, "Let's get going."

It took us about 30 minutes to get from Osgiliath to Minas Tirith on foot. Eddy and Iris were questioning us relentlessly about Liz' magical book and our adventures to Middle Earth during the War of the Ring.

"Why didn't you invite us along?" Iris asked, her voice sounding hurt.

"We did," I replied, "And you told us we were insane."

After that, we walked in silence and arrived at the gates of Minas Tirith when the sun was at its apex- so around noon. I must say, the White City is beautiful. It obviously didn't have jeweled paths and priceless tapestries strung through its streets like the Castle, but it was most definitely beautiful. Guards stood at the gate with the white tree of kings engraved on their breastplates. People wandered through the city, buying and selling. Children played in the streets. It was a very peaceful scene. Obviously Aragorn was doing his job well.

"We need to get to the palace," Liz said, eyeing the guards. We all looked at her, waiting for her to lead the way. "They don't have a map of Minas Tirith in the books," she grumbled, wandering away.

So we walked aimlessly until we managed to find the gate to the second level of the city. "Maybe the city is arranged like a giant spiral," I said.

Eddy shrugged. "It's worth a try."

We continued to wander through the city in the direction we were walking. The streets were curved ever so slightly, and as we followed them, I got the distinct impression that I had been right. Finally we found the gate to the third level. "I guess it is a spiral-like shape," mumbled Iris. I could tell she was still amazed that we were even back in Middle Earth at all.

We were walking through the third level of the city when I was suddenly and unexpectedly knocked over. I flew backwards into a street vendor's cart, scattering his goods across the road. The vendor, who had been flirting with a woman near us, looked up and hobbled back towards his cart. "Unruly children," he muttered, shoving me off the wreckage of his cart. I stood up slowly, brushing dust and bits of tomato off my clothes and looked around to see what might have hit me. That was when I saw him.

He looked to be about sixteen or seventeen years old. He had dark brown hair that fell to just above his shoulders and grey eyes. He was really handsome... why couldn't a normal looking guy have bumped into me? He was out of breath, staring at the scene as if he were in a stupor. Then he turned to me.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"Oh, no one important," I grumbled, glaring at him (for both being as handsome as he was and for shoving me into a street vendor), "Just some girl you dumped unceremoniously into a tomato cart."

"If you hadn't been standing in the middle of the road like a fencepost I wouldn't have run into you!" he said, grey eyes flashing.

"I was not standing in the middle of the road! You were simply not looking where you were running!" I shouted.

"You. Were. In. My. Way." He stepped closer to me.

Suddenly Eddy stepped in front of me, glaring at the kid. "Hallie," he said, looking back at me, "We really shouldn't be getting into fights right now. We have more important things to do."

The boy smirked. "Like what? Commandeering some other poor defenseless boy with your obvious lack of charm?"

I stepped around Eddy. "That's it, bozo." I was about to raise my fist and give this kid a piece of my mind when I heard, "There they are!" I spun around to see a guard running in our direction. The street vendor gave me a small wave. Why I oughta...

"Run!" The boy shouted, grabbing my arm and dragging me behind him. Liz pushed Iris forward and they shot after us, Eddy not far behind. We ran through the streets, following the boy who'd bumped into me. By this time there were several guards after us. We turned a corner, dodging an old man pushing a cart full of chickens, and ran through a back alleyway. When we popped out on the other side, we didn't see any of the guards, so we skidded to a stop to avoid any more unwanted attention. I jerked my hand out of the boy's grip and glared at him again.

"Why were those people chasing you?" I asked.

But he didn't have time to answer, because in that moment, the guards darted out from the alleyway and grabbed us. Pulling our hands behind us, they said, "You are under arrest."

"For what?" Eddy grumbled, obviously annoyed.

"For civil disobedience, property damage, inciting a riot, and general unruliness." Wow. Four charges in a matter of minutes. I'm sure that was a world record. Or a Middle Earth record.

They started to drag us away. "You forgot to read us our rights," Liz said.

One of the guards glared at her. "You have the right to shut up."

That gave us a good chuckle. The guards shoved us forward, towards what I assumed was the prison. Great. I rolled my eyes heavenwards. Less than three hours here and we were already causing trouble.

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***Sigh* The OCP is already causing trouble in Middle Earth. Who is the mysterious stranger? Why have they returned? Any other thoughts? There's a thing you can do- REVIEW! And perhaps you will get a response, excepting in the event of our return to Middle Earth (true story bro). See you all again soon!**


	3. Hey We're BACK

**Hello! Yeah, I know. So long since I posted. Well, here's your chapter! Hope y'all like! Thanks for the reviews!**

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**Liz - December 7th - The Prisons of Minas Tirith (it's dark down here)**

It was so nice and sunny outside... but I forgot to appreciate it. I guess you don't know what you have until it's gone, right?

Thanks to Hallie and the unnamed stranger...our visit to Middle Earth became a visit to the dungeons. I'm innocent! I didn't do anything and I was still arrested. I should have pulled a Bilbo and made myself invisible and snuck out on my friends. But of course, I didn't think of that at the time.

Eddy and Iris weren't very happy either. We were all glad to be back in Middle Earth, but I guess a warning would have been more helpful. We didn't even have our backpacks this time around. All we had were some pencils, Eddy and Iris' trigonometry books (yeah, like that's going to help), and my Lord of the Rings book. And everything had been taken away. Except my book, because I had decided to hide it. If the guards had gotten a hold of that...there would be a lot of awkward questions.

It was cold in the dungeons, and our winter coats hadn't been transported with us. Woo-hoo. And the guy who had gotten us in trouble was taken away a couple minutes after we had all been thrown into prison. Yes, it was quite an injustice. If I ever saw that guy again, I was going to give him a nice punch to the head. If Hallie didn't beat me there first.

"Let us out!" Hallie yelled, shaking the bars. "We need to speak with King Elessar!"

The guards ignored us. A bunch of the other prisoners around us yelled at us to shut up. Most of them were dirty and smelled bad. Yeah...it wasn't pleasant. I noticed that we still had our jeans and t-shirts on. We must have looked really weird. Especially us girls, who should have been wearing dresses.

Eventually, Hallie gave up trying to get the guards to listen to us. I figured the guards got a lot of yelling prisoners so we weren't anything new.

"Well that's it," Eddy groaned. "We're going to be here unless we somehow let Aragorn know that we're here." We all looked at each other in defeat. There was no way we would be able to talk to Aragorn. We didn't even know how deep underground we were, or where to find him. "Or we could just break out of jail," Eddy added as a joke.

But Hallie and I looked at each other, eyes wide. "Eddy! That's brilliant!"

"Aw, crap," Eddy moaned. "No! We are not breaking out of jail! You guys are insane, and you're the reason we're here in the first place."

"Yeah, well, we don't have any other options," I said, annoyed.

Hallie turned to Iris, who had been quiet the entire time. "You should do a fire spell and melt the bars. That way the guards would assume we're a major threat and take us to see Aragorn."

"And what if we get executed or something instead?" Eddy shouted.

"I doubt guards would execute anyone without having Aragorn authorize it." I said. "In fact, I don't think it's legal to execute anyone without the king's authorization."

Iris still looked hesitant. Hallie glanced around for a second, and then she suddenly screamed, "Iris! There's a rat over there!"

Iris shrieked. "Eep! There's no way I'm staying in here!" She pressed her hands up against the bars of the cage and the metal turned bright white. It dripped down onto the floor of the cell.

"You two are cruel," Eddy said.

"What? I really did see a rat. But would you really want to stay here forever?" Eddy had to admit that he didn't.

The guards seemed to notice us then. The prisoners were screeching and howling at us to let them out of their cells. By this time, Iris had melted a hole through the bars of the cell. We calmly stepped out and started down the hall like this happened to us every day. The guards cornered us a second later (we didn't try to stop them) and peppered us with questions. How did you do that? Are you a witch? Are you planning to kill us? What else can you do?

And, in accordance with our rights, we shut up.

They took us to see Aragorn then. We were led through a series of dark and grimy tunnels, climbing up long flights of stairs. The guards had tied our hands behind our backs. They didn't let go of us the entire way. I suppose if I'd just seen a teenage girl melt the solid iron bars of a prison with her bare hands, I'd be a little freaked out too.

Finally I saw light at the end of the tunnel. The guards led us into the light and we stopped at a gate, where more guards came out to search us and question us. Again, I made my book disappear, and again, we said nothing. When we made it through the gate, I almost gasped. We were being led right past the white tree of kings! The four of us stared at it in awe. The tree was in full bloom and was covered with beautiful flowers. The heavily adorned guards eyed us suspiciously, as if we were going to try to cut it down. I wasn't that much of a criminal.

Our friends the guards led us up the steps. After another awkward exchange with Aragorn's door guards, we stepped through the doors into the great hall. It was made of solid marble in both black and white. On our way to the thrones we passed multiple white marble statues of the kings of old. It was breathtaking. I looked in front of us and noticed Faramir sitting on a small black throne at the bottom of a set of stairs. At the top of the stairs was a grand white throne and sitting in that throne with a crown on his head was Aragorn. The guards stopped us in some ten feet in front of Faramir's throne and arranged us so we were in a line facing Aragorn and Faramir.

Obviously Aragorn had been briefed on the situation, because our guards didn't say anything. They just left. And then it turned into a staring contest for a couple of moments between us and Faramir, who, apparently, was trying to figure out how Iris had melted the prison bars. Suddenly Aragorn stood.

"Hallie?" he said, staring at her. Then he looked to me. "Liz? Iris? Eddy?" Hallie's face broke into a grin. Soon we were all smiling, Aragorn included. Faramir just looked confused.

Then Aragorn frowned. "Why were you in my prison?"

"Some idiot pushed me into a street vendor's cart. And then we... ended up getting in a little fight." Aragorn looked alarmed. "I didn't touch him! Soon after, the guards were chasing us and the kid who pushed me into the cart was dragging us along. And then we got arrested." Hallie paused, looking sheepish. "And then Iris melted the prison bars."

Aragorn sat down again slowly, rubbing his forehead. "Teenagers will be the death of me," he muttered. Then he finally seemed to notice the confused look on Faramir's face, because he explained. "These are the children who helped me on my travels seventeen years ago. They saved my life repeatedly."

We obviously weren't living up to that description at the moment. "Seventeen years ago?" Iris squeaked. She looked over at me. "We've been gone seventeen years?"

I shrugged. When it came to Middle Earth, my friends thought that I had all the answers. But I only knew what was in the books. And the books certainly didn't say we'd been gone seventeen years.

Hallie did the math in her head. "1442," she muttered. "Or year 21 of the Fourth Age."

At that point, I really wanted to pull out my book and dig through the Appendices to see if it said anything on the timeline about 1442, but I couldn't because a) my hands were bound and b) if I pulled out my book, I'm pretty sure the guards would take it and try to kill me.

Aragorn must have had a lot on his mind, because it was only then that he noticed our hands were tied behind our backs. He ordered the guards to release us and they did so cautiously. I felt bad for the guy who untied Iris. He looked like he was about to pee his pants. I rolled my eyes. Since when did the guards become so wimpy?

After that, Aragorn had some guards show us to guest rooms in his palace where we could change and clean up. Because as much fun as being king can be, it certainly doesn't allow much time to catch up with old friends. Who have been gone seventeen years.

Yeesh. Suddenly I feel very old.

**Iris - December 7th - Aragorn's Palace, Minas Tirith (We're back.)**

We're back in Middle Earth.

I really can't believe it. We're back.

The guards took us to our rooms right after our talk with Aragorn. Poor guy looked pretty stressed. My room was beautiful- just like the rest of the palace. And it was huge. I've honestly never had a room to myself that was this big. There was a king-sized bed, a sitting area, my own private bathroom, and a balcony. Of course, the bathroom didn't have a shower or a real toilet, but I think I can make do.

A few minutes after I'd arrived in my room (I don't know how I'll find this place again when I leave), there was a knock on the door. I opened it, thinking it was one of my friends, and a couple of maids came in to measure me for a gown. I almost told them it was too much, I didn't need a gown, but then I looked down at my jeans and t-shirt and realized that it probably wasn't appropriate for Middle Earth.

Afterwards, I decided to go out and explore. Hallie's room was to the right of mine, and Liz was across the hall. Eddy was in a completely different wing.

I knocked on my friend's doors. Nobody answered. Great, I thought. My friends have ditched me. But, I guess they were probably so excited about the place that they had decided to go look around and forgot to mention it to me.

I decided to look for the infirmary. I wanted to see what was there. They probably had some herbs that I had never seen before, and maybe Arwen would be there. Aragorn hadn't said anything about his wife and son, but I guess he had been too preoccupied.

I guess we won't be seeing a lot of Aragorn... poor Hallie, I'm sure she was looking forward to some sparring with her old mentor. Would the guards even allow it? They seem so uptight. But I guess guarding the king of Gondor is a pretty big responsibility.

After asking around (and getting a lot of strange looks), I finally found the infirmary, which was located in a completely different part of the palace grounds. Outside, it was really nice and warm, which felt really nice compared to Colorado, which was pretty cold around this time.

The infirmary was pretty empty, except for a few people lying on some of the cots here and there. I didn't see any nurses or doctors around, although I didn't really know what they were supposed to look like anyways. Nobody was walking around, which was weird for me, because I was used to the hustle and bustle of the hospitals at home.

When I heard voices, I turned in the direction they were coming from. Walking into another room, with shelves of herbs and bandages on the walls, I saw a little boy sitting on a bench, kicking his legs beneath him. He was crying, and I saw that there was blood running down his arm. He had probably gotten hurt while playing.

I was about to go help him, when someone else came into the room with some bandages and a tube of liquid, which I assumed was some sort of antiseptic. He didn't notice me, but simply knelt down in front of the boy. That someone - a elf- looked very familiar. I carefully walked a little bit closer and confirmed my suspicions.

"Haldir?" I gasped.

He whirled around, dropping the bandages and bottle in surprise. Luckily, I was close enough to catch them both before they hit the ground.

"Iris!" he cried, jumping up and gaping at me in shock. "What... how... you're..."

I grinned at him. "We're all back, Haldir." He continued to gape. "And I'm so glad to see you here! When we left, I felt really guilty because I was afraid that you were going to die!"

Just then, the little boy started bawling. I carefully knelt down to administer the bandages and solution. Soon enough, the boy was back to his fun, and Haldir and I were left alone to talk.

"I was close to dying," he admitted. "But after you left, Gandalf summoned the eagles, and they carried me back to Mirkwood. I was healed there. Aragorn said that I could stay there with Legolas, or go back to Rivendell, but I wanted to go to Gondor."

"Well, I'm glad you did," I said, smiling. "Oh, by the way, do you know where Arwen is?"

"Lady Arwen is on a diplomatic visit to Rohan," Haldir said. "She'll be back by tomorrow."

"That's great!" I said. "I haven't seen her in so long." I was really looking forward to seeing my mentor again. "And what about their son?"

Haldir suddenly looked slightly uncomfortable. "Aranor... is a nice kid," he said slowly, "but he's a bit mischievous."

"What do you mean?"

Haldir looked around, as if scared someone was watching him. Inwardly, I chuckled. Haldir was such a funny elf. "He likes to sneak out of the palace and is constantly getting in trouble. It's worse when Lady Arwen is gone."

"Huh... Aragorn can't keep him under control?"

"Aragorn is quite busy, with running his kingdom and whatnot. And Aranor is a talented youth - he does have legendary parentage, so it's quite easy for him to slip out as he pleases," Haldir explained. I guess no parent can be perfect. I guess Aragorn would probably have a better relationship with his son if they spent more time together. But for Aragorn... the kingdom has to come first.

Eventually, Haldir had to go off to do something else, and I went off to find my friends. They were in the training area, looking at the various assortment of weapons. Hallie and Eddy both looked like they really wanted to pick up the weapons and spar, but they decided that it would be a little rude to do so without asking. And there were also people giving us weird looks.

So, we had to settle with awkwardly walking around. We really had no idea what to do. Aragorn was busy, Haldir was elsewhere, and there was no one else we knew.

Time passed slowly, but the sun began to set. Hallie, Liz, and I were walking back to our rooms when a page ran up to us and nervously told us that Aragorn had invited us to a dinner party.

Liz seemed kind of appalled, because she has never been good with formal gatherings. Hallie was excited (she seemed kind of excited about everything, but more so about this). I remembered she'd been to Cotillion before and made a mental note to ask her if I got confused with the forks.

We headed back to our rooms to change while the page scuttled off to who-knows-where. Some servants rushed in to help me get dressed, before I told them (politely) to leave because I can dress myself, thank you very much.

But then I had to get one of them to stay because I couldn't figure out how to tie everything the right way. I could only imagine how Liz was faring...

Then the servant did my hair, and I stood outside my door waiting for my friends. A minute later, Hallie stepped out in a silver dress. We complimented each other and waited for Liz.

Who was taking a really long time. Probably trying to work the ribbons and straps by herself, stubborn as she was.

Finally... she came out in an indigo dress, looking extremely annoyed and fidgety.

And then we set off (with the help of a servant, of course. I don't think I could find my way around this place otherwise).

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**Oooohhh... Dinner. Also, I bet you've noticed that Aragorn has a non-canon son. *LE GASP* Don't kill us! All will fall into place and will eventually be explained, so stay along for the ride! **

**Reviews, please, because you love me!**


	4. Oh the Joys of Gondor

**Hey, sorry for the long wait. Dealing with a lot this week. Thanks to all who reviewed, favorited, followed, etc. Enjoy our next chapter!**

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**Eddy - December 7th - A Dinner Party fit for a King**

The dining hall was pretty impressive. There was a giant chandelier at the center of the ceiling, with crystal hanging down and candlelight reflecting off. The crystal had probably come straight from the dwarves - it was clearly their handiwork.

There was a giant mahogany table, and tall, plush velvet chairs all lined up. Aragorn sat at the head. Faramir was at his left with Eowyn at his side. At first, I stood there awkwardly, unsure of what to do, and then the servant who had led me there led me to my seat. I was to Eowyn's right, but there was an empty chair between us. An awkward silence filled the room. Finally I heard near-silent footsteps behind me. All the men at the table (Aragorn, Faramir, and I) stood up immediately as Hallie, Liz, and Iris filed into the room. Hallie wore a silver gown, and Liz - dark blue. Iris wore a light pink gown that clung to her shoulders and flowed all the way to the ground. Her hair was done up in an elaborate updo. I stared at her (not in a creepy way, mind you).

The servant that guided them in led them to their seats. Iris was between me and Eowyn. There was an empty chair next to mine, although I didn't know if someone was supposed to sit there or if it was just there for show. Hallie and Liz sat across from me and Eowyn, with an empty seat between Hallie and Aragorn.

And then Haldir rushed in, looking completely awestruck. I guess he didn't get invited to things like these very often. But I was grateful that Aragorn had invited him anyways. Iris had told all of us that Haldir was indeed in Gondor, but I hadn't gotten the chance to see him yet.

Haldir sat down and tried to calm down, but he ended up as fidgety as Liz was. The awkward silence descended across the room again. Even the servants looked uncomfortable. Finally, Aragorn let out a sigh, and called one of the servants to him, who immediately rushed out of the room.

"Well, I suppose introductions are in order," Aragorn said, clearing his throat. I could feel the relief from everyone in the room. We were all grateful that there had been something to break the silence.

"Faramir, Lady Eowyn, these children helped me on my travels seventeen years ago."

Faramir and Eowyn nodded in understanding, although I could see their confusion as to why we looked so young, and why they had never seen us before.

"Why don't you all introduce yourselves," Aragorn suggested. Ugh...thanks for putting us on the spot.

"I'm Hallie," Hallie started. I was glad she did, or we might not have spoken up in the first place.

"Liz," Liz said awkwardly.

"I'm Iris," Iris' face was slightly red. Her shyness had crept in again.

"Uh... I'm Edward. But you can call me Eddy,"

Just then, the door slammed open. "It's about time you joined us," Aragorn said with an annoyed tone of voice.

I turned to see who it was, but Hallie sprang up from her seat (the chair scratching on the floor loudly) and hissed, "You!"

And sure enough... it was the guy who had gotten us thrown in jail. He seemed equally shocked to see us. "What are you doing here?"

Aragorn could clearly see that a fight was about to break out and he cleared his throat loudly. "Aranor, sit down. These are our guests. This is my son Aranor, whom I see you have already met."

Dude... this guy was Aragorn's son? "I can see what Haldir means by mischievous," Iris muttered.

The food was served, which made things a lot less awkward. Eowyn struck up a conversation with Iris. I talked to Haldir. Aragorn and Hallie talked, and Liz sat there glaring daggers at Aranor.

And then the bomb struck.

"Aragorn, I was just wondering if I could have Elyon back," Hallie said.

"Elyon? What business do you have with that sword?" Aranor inquired.

Hallie glared at him. "It's my sword."

"You've got to be kidding me. There's no way you were the wielder of Elyon, the knight who single-handedly defeated the monster of Rhun!" So apparently... Aragorn told his kid bedtime stories about us... well this is awkward.

Aragorn tried to stop the impending argument between his son and apprentice, but the two of them ignored him.

"That was me. Do you have a problem with that?" Hallie shot back. Everyone around the table had fallen silent.

"But, you're so short! The wind could blow you over! You don't look like a very good fighter. Can you even hold a sword?"

"I could easily beat you in a duel!" Hallie retorted.

"You think so? Then I challenge you. We'll duel tomorrow," Aranor said.

Hallie smirked. "Challenge accepted."

After that... they settled down, but the two of them still continued to glare at each other.

Tomorrow was going to be interesting.

**Hallie - December 8th - Dueling My Former Mentor's Annoying Son**

I woke up this morning and had to remind myself that I was in Gondor. I washed myself and then walked to the closet, hoping that there was a pair of trousers in there somewhere. I sighed. More dresses. I chose a robin's egg blue dress that was a lot simpler than the silver one I'd worn last night. A maid came in to help me with the buttons.

After getting dressed, I stepped outside and knocked on Liz' and Iris' doors. A second later, a tired-looking Liz walked out of her room in a dress a beautiful shade of purple. Iris arrived a second later in a periwinkle gown.

"Anyone know where the breakfast buffet is?" I joked.

Iris groaned. "I can't even find my way back to my own room."

So we wandered around for a little bit, looking for a maid or page or someone to tell us where to go for some food. Eventually we figured out that breakfast was usually served in bed. Great, I thought. I'm already up. So we decided to take our breakfast in my drawing room. I can't believe I was saying that. I had my own drawing room.

After breakfast, the three of us found our way back to the training room, where Aranor and I were to duel later. Aragorn had promised me after dinner to return my sword so long as I didn't use it to harm his son. I noticed that there were two wooden swords leaning against one of the walls. I walked over to them and picked one up, laughing.

"Are you ready to duel?" I whipped around to see Aranor walking into the room, clad in better fighting gear than I. He looked me up and down, taking in my dress and slippers. He was obviously thinking that I couldn't possibly have defeated Buster (aka the Monster of Rhun, dun dun dun) since I wasn't even properly dressed to spar.

I balanced the wooden sword in my hand. It would have to do for the time being. I heard footsteps coming down the hall and turned to see Aragorn, Eowyn, and Faramir walking into the training area. I felt a pang of nostalgia, seeing Aragorn there.

Then I turned back to his son. How strange it was to duel two generations of a legendary family. Liz, Iris, and Eddy were standing next to Aragorn, Eowyn, and Faramir, watching me with obvious interest. Nine months ago I would have felt strange with all these people staring at me, waiting for me to make my first move, but since I'd entered so many fencing competitions, I'd gotten used to the attention.

So I decided to make a show of it. Aranor had his sword at the ready. He gestured to me, giving me the opportunity for the first strike. I smiled.

"You'll have to step a little closer," I said, trying to look serious, "I don't think my short arms can reach that far."

Behind me, I heard someone trying to stifle a chuckle (I think it was Aragorn). I was pretty sure my friends (and that included Aragorn) knew that I could have easily reached to where Aranor stood.

Aranor, giving in to his arrogance and air of self-assurance, stepped closer to me. And, faster than he could blink, I brought the flat of my sword up and hit him square in the side of the head. In that moment, he lost grip of his sword, sending it flying through the air. He then fell onto the mats that were the floor of the training room with a thud. I reached out and caught his sword, pointing the tips of both swords at his throat.

"I win." I smiled. From his position on the floor, Aranor glared up at me. I walked over and leaned both swords against the wall. Then I exited the arena, and Liz high-fived me. Soon we were all laughing and cheering.

Then Aragorn walked up to me. I hoped he wasn't mad at me for utterly embarrassing his son. But instead he smiled and handed me a sword and scabbard I knew well. My friends gave me a wide berth as I unsheathed Elyon, its silver blade glowing in the sunlight.

Aragorn gave Eddy back his bow as well, which made him extremely happy. And then he handed Liz a pair of daggers, much to her surprise.

"It's fixed," she said. "Thank you." I remembered that one of the elvish daggers had been bent when Liz had... um... thrown it at me. That seemed so long ago...

"You all seem like skilled warriors," Eowyn said, walking up. "That is a fine sword, Hallie. And I can see your friend is an archer. And what about you?" she asked, turning to Iris.

"Queen Arwen has trained me in the art of healing," Iris responded.

"I did, and I have heard that you have greatly excelled in that art." We all turned around to see Arwen walking into the room. Iris gasped. She hadn't seen her mentor since we'd left Rivendell last April.

"Arwen," she breathed, "It's so nice to see you again!" I thought she was going to fall over from happiness. Then Aranor walked up, obviously done gathering the bits of his shattered ego from the floor of the training room.

"Mother! You're back!" he smiled at her. I looked over at Aragorn, who had a look of longing on his face and suddenly I felt really bad for him. It was pretty obvious he didn't have that kind of relationship with his son anymore.

Later, as we were leaving the training room, Aragorn pulled me aside. I was so happy to talk to him- we hadn't really seen him at all since we'd arrived.

"I think you should keep the extent of your powers a secret," he said. I nodded slowly. I remembered Mirkwood, when I'd lied to Thranduil. I didn't want to run around telling everyone about our powers.

"I agree," I replied. "Does that include Faramir and Eowyn?"

"No," he said, after a pause, "I trust them. But it does include my son."

I relayed the news to my friends later that afternoon. We all agreed that it was the best course of action, to keep everything secret. I'd assumed that the guards who'd seen Iris melt the prison bars were told never to speak of it again. The prisoners who'd seen us would probably be regarded as crazy.

Dinner that night, I'm glad to say, was definitely less awkward than it was last night.

"So," Arwen began in that musical voice of hers, "What happened to you after your return to your homeland?"

We all looked at each other, chuckling at the memory. "When we arrived, we discovered that very little time had passed since our disappearance," Iris said.

"And though it has been seventeen years for you, it has only been nine months for us," Eddy continued. I suddenly felt like I was part of a movie- one of Disney ones, where everyone is telling a story, and they bounce from one person to the next in perfect harmony.

"Did you do anything interesting?" Aragorn asked, eyes sparkling. I knew he was remembering all the stories I'd told him, Legolas, and Gimli on our last trip.

"We did," I replied. "We decided to go to a renaissance fair."

And then I told everyone at the table the story of the renaissance fair. How Eddy had beat the best archer in the world by a large margin, how the archer had protested, and how eventually Liz and I had to step in, violating the first rule of date stalking: don't get caught.

By the end of the story, everyone was laughing and having a grand old time. It reminded me of the last time we'd been here, seventeen years ago. There were streaks of grey in Aragorn's hair now, and he had a son, but he was still my mentor. Haldir hadn't changed a bit. I wondered where Legolas and Gimli were, and what they were doing. I made a mental note to ask Aragorn about it the next time I saw him. But for now, I was just going to enjoy Middle Earth.

I mean, it's a once in a lifetime chance, right?

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**#ArapahoeStrong For the sake of Thorin, who is completely wigged out that his nephew is involved in a love triangle with an ****_elf_**** (spoiler alert), please review!**


	5. Friends and Foes

**Hey, guys! How's it going? Sorry updates are slow but, you know. A chapter is never late, nor is it early. It arrives precisely when it means to. ;) Thanks again to our reviewers, and enjoy!**

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**Liz - December 10th - Of Daggers and Dresses **

I really miss my jeans and hoodie right now. And I have to wear a stinkin' dress every day. And Gondorian dresses are thick and heavy, with a bunch of unnecessary layers and I'm starting to wish that it wasn't so sunny here. Not that I should really say anything. A couple of days ago, I was wishing for sun in the cold streets of Colorado.

Right now I'm wearing a black and white dress. The lower layer is white, and the upper layer is cut differently, and it's black, with some white embroidered designs. Then I have a silver chain-linked belt.

Sure, I guess I like it. But it's so hard to walk in. I keep tripping over the skirt. I wanted to just hike up my skirt and run, but I figured that would be considered quite scandalous. Well, at least the shoes are comfortable.

I had agreed to meet my friends (minus Iris, because she's with Arwen) at the training area. By the time I got there (somehow managing not to fall on my face), Eddy and Haldir were already practicing, along with Hallie, who was practicing on a dummy (his name was Aranor). Hallie had somehow managed to find a tunic and pants.

"Hey, Liz," Hallie greeted me.

"Where did you get those clothes?" I asked.

"Oh, they were in my closet. I guess the servants put them there."

"Well, lucky you." In my frustration, I picked up a dagger and threw it. It slammed into the bull's-eye of the target.

"At least you can still do target practice," Hallie said, and went back to stabbing "Aranor" in the gut.

I walked to the target and pulled the dagger out. My elvish daggers (one which had been reforged) were in my room, because I couldn't carry them with me with the outfit I was wearing.

I continued to throw my daggers, but then I got bored of throwing and retrieval (and tripping). "I wonder if I could throw backwards," I muttered.

Taking a deep breath, and turned my back to the target and tried to aim. The dagger landed with a clatter on the ground, because I didn't use enough force. I picked it up and tried again. This time, it skimmed the target, but fell to the ground again.

The third time I tried it, I aimed badly and when I turned around to see where it went, I saw that it was headed straight for Hallie.

Without thinking, a shadow flew out and pushed the dagger away. "Oh my gosh, Hallie!" I gasped. "I'm so sorry!"

And just then, Aranor walked in. "Sorry for what?" Oh shoot... did he actually see me use my powers?

"I... uh... accidentally threw a dagger at Hallie," I said sheepishly. Huh. Sense of deja-vu right now. I was still slightly mad at Aranor for getting us thrown in prison, but Hallie had taught him a lesson, so that made me feel better.

Aranor snorted. "Too bad it didn't hit her. You must not have thrown very hard for the dagger to clatter to the ground like that." He paused, taking in the sight of me in my dress and Hallie in her tunic and trousers. "I still don't believe you four were the ones who protected my father."

And the anger was back..."We're more skilled than you think," I informed him icily.

"Really? Because your aim doesn't seem so great."

I grabbed a dagger and quickly flicked it over to a nearby target. The dagger flew in the space between Aranor's arm and waist (he had one hand resting on his sword at his waist), and hit the target right in the center. "Still think so?" I hissed.

This guy really got on my nerves. How could someone as awesome as Aragorn have a kid who was such a jerk?

"I'll admit that was impressive," Aranor said. "But you would easily be killed in close combat."

Okay... now I really wanted to show him what I could really do, but I had promised Hallie that no one would know of the extent of our powers.

"I'm good at close combat too," I said. Okay, so I wasn't that great. But I started martial arts only half a year ago. Give me a break.

"Not good enough to defeat monsters. I can tell you're the useless one of the group."

"What is your problem?" Hallie asked, storming up. "Are you such a sore-loser that you need to pick on others to make yourself feel better?"

"I wouldn't underestimate Liz if I were you," Eddy added, walking up as well, with Haldir at his side. "You thought you were better than Hallie, and she kicked your butt."

"Oh, so you need others to defend you too? You're so weak," Aranor sneered at me. I tried not to let his words get to me. But really, it wasn't the words that were bothering me. In that moment, when he was sneering at me and my friends, he reminded me of Raordell. Not in appearances, of course, but the way he talked. And suddenly I felt very weak. And very afraid.

I simply glared at him, trying to look intimidating (it didn't really work because he's at least as tall as Eddy). I didn't have time for this jerk. What was wrong with him, anyway? I turned away from him and kept throwing my daggers at the mark. I saw Hallie walk back to the dummy she was sparring. And out of the corner of my eye, I saw Aranor follow her.

She turned to face him. "What is wrong with you? Have you no respect for anyone?"

"I respect those who earn my respect. And you have not."

"From now on, I shall endeavor to earn the highly coveted respect of Aranor." Hallie replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm. I really wanted to go over there and give that jerk a piece of my mind, but I'm pretty sure that Aragorn wouldn't take a liking to that.

Aranor continued to bother her. "You fight this dummy because you know you lack skill. Why not spar with a partner?"

"Because no one here is good enough to practice with me."

It was true. Eddy was skilled in archery, I with my daggers and shadewalking (sort of, I still don't know as much as I'd like), and Iris with her healing. Hallie couldn't heal as well as Iris, shadewalk like me, or shoot as well as Eddy. And we couldn't fight as well as her.

I half expected Aranor to challenge her to another duel, a real test of her strength or something, but he just smirked. Part of me thought he was only annoying us because his dad was so excited about us being here. Part of me just didn't like him one bit.

Gah... if this guy wasn't the heir to the throne of Gondor, I would have tried to beat him to a pulp by now. With shadows. So I looked like the Necromancer or someone and would really freak him out. Speaking of the Necromancer, it looked like we'd be missing the Hobbit. I groaned involuntarily. Aranor looked over at me. "Hurting from throwing the dagger for all of two minutes?"

I glared at him again. "No," I said, looking pointedly at Hallie, "I've just realized that we're going to be missing the Hobbit."

Hallie's eyes widened. "Really?" she whined, "We've been waiting for so long to see that!"

"If you're talking about the hobbit my dad knows, Saul or whatever, he arrived the other day."

"It's Sam," I snapped. "I guess you're not as smart as you think you are if you can't remember a simple name like that."

Hallie smiled and Aranor looked like he'd just been hit by a bat. "Get him, Liz," Hallie mouthed.

Okay... that sounded good, but how? Would Arwen kill me if I slugged her son? Because I really wanted to right now. It might mess up his face a little bit... but I didn't have much problem with that (coughLegolascough).

"I'll have you know I was trained by the finest tutors in all of Gondor," Aranor retorted.

"Not even the best teachers in all the world could make _you_ smart," I snapped.

Aranor sent me a glare and stormed away. "I guess you won," Hallie said, smiling. "You go, girl!"

I grinned at her. I had never been so satisfied in my life.

**Iris - December 13th - Happy Birthday to me! (And oh my gosh we're missing the Hobbit)**

"Happy Birthday!" All my friends (including Haldir) rushed into my room bringing gifts of flowers.

They all crowded around my bed. Gah... I had just woken up. Seriously? I was in my nightgown for Pete's sake. Outside my door, I caught glimpse of a disapproving servant, who obviously didn't like the fact that we had made such a racket, plus the two male members of the party who had simply walked into the women's bedroom wing without warning.

"Oh my gosh!" I gasped. "You guys!"

Eddy kissed me, which gathered fake-gagging noises from Liz and Hallie. Haldir just stood there awkwardly.

Then Liz, Hallie, and the housekeeper, Mara (whom I had become very good friends with) kicked the boys out of the room.

"Geez, seventeen," Hallie said, grinning, "You're practically a senior citizen!"

"Oh ha ha. You're next, Hallie, so I wouldn't be talking," I countered, as Mara dressed me in a light green gown, with a silvery layer on top of silky fabric. It was elvish, so I had a suspicion that Arwen was the one who sent it to me.

And then for the finishing touch, Mara revealed a gorgeous elvish circlet. The silver was twisted into an elaborate design, with small flowers here and there. At the center was a moonstone, and it rested at the center of my forehead.

"You look so pretty, Iris!" Liz exclaimed.

"Eddy is going to faint," Hallie said, grinning.

I blushed. I had to admit, I liked how I looked. And when I stepped out of my room, it was clear that Eddy did too. He stood there gaping and just kept looking me up and down.

Liz sighed and rolled her eyes, hitting the back of his head. "Oh stop looking like an idiot and kiss her already!"

He stepped forward and pulled me in for a kiss. It was pretty amazing. I wished that I could have been there forever, just in my little bubble of happiness.

And then... Hallie let out a really loud cough. Eddy and I pulled away to face very a very awkward looking Hallie, Liz, and Haldir. Mara was smiling. I guess she had a husband or something. She'd get it.

I had no idea what I wanted to do today. It was my birthday, after all. But being in Middle Earth... with Eddy... was a gift enough.

And then I saw the food and life was even better.

The cook (whom I had also become great friends with) gave me a little breakfast party filled with scones and fresh fruit. If the rest of my day was going to be like this... I didn't think I would be able to fit into my dress by the end of the day.

After breakfast, Eddy and I wandered through the palace gardens, hand in hand. Liz, Hallie, and Haldir were who-knows-where, but the important thing was that they had left us alone. It was the first time the two of us had been alone since our coffee date.

"Wow," I said, marveling at the multitude of colors around us. "I wish I could have a garden like this back home."

"I'm sure you'd be able to do it," Eddy said encouragingly. "And I'd love to come over as often as I can to help."

I beamed at him. "Really? You'd do that? Thanks!"

He smiled back at me. "Of course I would."

We spent an hour or so wandering through those gardens, wrapped in each other's arms. It was amazing. Suddenly, Liz came running up to me, and Hallie was a second behind her. My eyes narrowed. Had they been spying on us?

"You'll never guess who we just met- again!" Liz said excitedly.

"Um... Gandalf?" I asked. I really wanted to spend a little more than five minutes with the infamous White Wizard. I had so many questions for him. We all did.

Liz laughed. "No, although that would be pretty cool. We were just talking to Sam and Rosie!"

I started. "Really? That's awesome! Could I say hi to them?"

"I'm sure they'd love to see you again," Hallie said.

Hallie and Liz led Eddy and I back towards the palace. I noticed that Liz had finally convinced her maid to find her a tunic and a pair of trousers like Hallie's. I figured they'd been training before they had met Sam. Finally we turned a corner and I saw Sam and Rosie sitting on a window seat, gazing out at the beautiful view of Gondor before them. When we walked up, Rosie immediately got up from her seat and ran over to hug us. Sam settled for shaking our hands.

"So," I started, "How have you been? You have to tell me everything!"

And they did. Starting with the fact that they'd had ten more children since we last saw them (Hallie kind of freaked out at that). Sam had been re-elected mayor (for the umpteenth time), but he'd taken the year off to come stay in Gondor. He hoped it would improve the relationship between the world of men and that of the hobbits. Then they asked me what had been going on in my life since they'd last seen me. I told them about our excursion at the renaissance fair and about Eddy and I dating.

Sam and Rosie had brought their eldest daughter, Elanor, with them, but she was somewhere else in Gondor. The rest of the children had stayed with Rosie's family, the Cottons. Rosie's brother, Tolman (or Tom), was acting as deputy mayor while they were gone.

After chatting for a little while, Rosie and Sam went off to find Elanor and Hallie and Liz went off to plan ways to make Aranor's life miserable. Well, they didn't specifically say that, but they had that gleam in their eye that meant they were up to something. And since I hadn't done anything to offend them (at least, I hope not) so I knew that if they were plotting, they were probably plotting against Aranor.

But whatever the case... I'm just glad they left me and Eddy alone.

Aragorn had flowers sent to me, which was really nice of him, since I knew that he was really busy. I actually got a lot of flowers throughout the day. And of course, flowers have meaning, so Mara helped me interpret them.

Aragorn sent gladioluses which symbolized strength of character and honor. Someone else (signed Peter, no idea who that is) had sent blue and purple irises, symbolizing eloquence and wisdom. Plus, they were my namesake. There were some clumsily picked gerbera daisies (I suspected they were from a child... perhaps from the one I had helped at the hospital the other day?) that symbolized cheerfulness.

Haldir sent Chrysanthemums, for friendship. And Eddy gave me red and white carnations (once he figured at what they meant) because they meant beauty, admiration, and pure love.

And then there was a bouquet, unsigned, of marigolds. They were pretty flowers, but the meaning wasn't so good. Cruelty, grief, jealousy, sacred affection. What the heck? I threw them away as soon as I heard that, and Eddy kind of freaked out about it.

But they were soon forgotten.

And as Eddy and I watched the sun set over Gondor, I couldn't help thinking that it had been one of the best days ever.

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**Who's the mysterious sender? Maybe Raordell is somehow alive and sent her flowers (dun dun dunn). Why? BECAUSE I SAID SO. :D**

**By the way, tell us what you think of Aranor. :)**

**Oh, and can we all just agree that The Desolation of Smaug was epic? **

**Review!**


	6. All About Aranor

**Hi there. How are you? Well, thanks to all who reviewed (we do love reviews). Here's another chapter of the Hourglass for y'all!**

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**Eddy - December 15th - There's something there that wasn't there before...**

So our time in Gondor has been pretty uneventful. Not that I'm complaining. I'd rather not go through another save Middle Earth type thing.

But honestly... life has been kind of boring. Everyday, we train, eat, and walk around. And get really annoyed at Aranor, because he really likes insulting us and messing with our lives instead of just minding his own business.

Liz has gotten to be good friends with Eowyn. Sometimes, when she doesn't have other duties, she comes to watch us. Liz has also perfected throwing backwards. I tried to learn to shoot backwards... but it didn't really work, because you have to hold your arms at really awkward angles.

The only problem with having people watch us... is that we can't train with our other skills. Hallie has always had trouble practicing with her combat magic (as you can imagine) and I guess she was hoping that now that we were in Middle Earth again, she could practice more. But now... Aragorn made us promise that we would keep those skills secret.

Liz has to keep her shadewalking a secret too. And Aranor isn't making it any easier for the two of them. He keeps making jabs at how "weak" they are and everything. I'm actually kind of surprised that neither of them has used their skills on him yet. It probably takes a lot of self-control.

Iris and I don't necessarily have to keep our skills secret (everyone knows Iris is taught by Arwen herself and Haldir has the sight too) but we try not to call too much attention to ourselves.

When I walked into the training room, Liz and Hallie were sitting on the floor, looking extremely bored.

"You know, Hallie," Liz was saying. "maybe I could create a shadow puppet for you to spar with."

"You've never done that before," Hallie replied. "You don't even know if it would work."

"It's worth a try. It's better than a dummy."

"Aragorn said that we shouldn't let anyone know about our powers."

"There's no one here but us," Liz said. I cleared my throat and she corrected herself. "And Eddy."

"Anyone could walk in, though," Hallie said, but I could tell that she was itching to try Liz's idea.

"This training room is only for people Aragorn lets in. The soldiers train somewhere else. The only one who really ever comes here is Aranor. And Eddy can keep watch."

"What?" I complained. "Why do I have to keep watch?"

"Come on, Eddy," Liz persuaded. "You can stand in the doorway, and practice shooting while Hallie spars. If anyone comes, you can warn us. Also, Hallie can practice fighting while there are arrows flying around."

I sighed. I had to admit... it wasn't that bad of an idea. Besides... we were actually going to do something interesting for once. "Fine."

"Sweet," Liz grinned at Hallie, who grinned back.

Liz sat down a little ways from where Hallie stood, stance ready for attack. I positioned myself at the doorway, a watchful eye on the corridor. No one was around. Liz closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Then a faceless shadow warrior popped up.

Hallie charged, and struck, which was a little weird, because there was no sound except for the swishing of the sword as it cut through the air. The shadow barely dodged, and a bead of sweat dripped down Liz's face. It was taking a lot out of her to fight with that shadow.

As they fought, I took three arrows and shot them. Hallie managed to duck, and took a stab at the shadow. The sword grazed the shadow's leg. Obviously there was no blood, but the shadow faltered, as Liz tried to keep focused and in control.

I just kept shooting arrows. A couple made contact, but they simply bounced off Hallie's skin. Sometimes I think I was a little jipped when we were given our powers. Hallie is wicked with a blade, invulnerable, and has combat magic to boot. Liz has her aim, and shadewalking. Iris has healing and spells. And me... I can shoot, and I have the sight, but a lot of elves have those abilities. Elves can shoot a bird in the eye in the dark without the sight.

Aranor was wrong... maybe I'm the useless one of the group.

And speaking of Aranor... here comes the jerk.

"Okay, stop!" I yelled, before Aranor could glimpse them through the windows. Liz, surprised, instantly dissipated the shadow without warning and laid down on the floor in exhaustion. Hallie almost dropped Elyon when the shadow she was slashing disappeared, but she quickly regained composure and sheathed her sword.

"Why are you yelling?" Aranor asked, walking up, looking annoyed. Wow... just in time. "And why are you shooting from outside the room?"

"I was… extending my range," I said, thinking quickly.

Aranor walked into the room, eyes taking in Liz's state on the floor. Hallie just eyed him coolly. "What happened to her? Throwing daggers couldn't have possibly exhausted her this much, although I suppose with her stamina, it could."

Liz sat up, eyes flashing angrily. "For your information, I was helping Hallie practice."

Aranor raised an eyebrow. "How? You don't know how to use a sword. You couldn't possibly have tried to face her with only your daggers."

"Why not?"

"Daggers wouldn't stand a chance in close combat. You would have been easily hurt. If you were truly sparring, you would have used wooden weapons." Shoot... that did make sense. Hallie wouldn't ever fight Liz with regular weapons, because even though Hallie can't get hurt, Liz can.

"Why are you even here?" Hallie asked. "Why can't you just leave us alone?"

"I was only walking by. And then I saw your friend shooting from outside and I was curious." Then Aranor's eye caught on something, and he walked over to pick up one of my arrows - one that had snapped when it bounced off Hallie's skin. "Hm... this arrow must be poorly made. It snapped when it hit the ground because of your terrible aim."

Liz and I looked at each other. Crap. If Aranor put the pieces together, he might figure out that the arrow didn't break because it hit the ground.

But just as I was going to say something to get Aranor off track, Hallie beat me to the punch. Literally.

She walked up and slapped him, leaving a red mark on his face. I was instantly reminded of Liz and Legolas. "You know what? You are a conceited, arrogant, horrible person and I'm tired of it! You have no idea who we are, or what we can do. You don't know what we've been through or who we've met. You don't know anything about us, and yet you think yourself so much better than us. But I can tell you right now that I'd rather know a peasant on your streets than you."

Hallie glared at him for a moment and stormed off. I waited to hear an explosion, but none came. Gosh, she's got some self-control. Then I looked back over at Liz, who glanced at me, glared at Aranor, picked herself up off the floor, and followed Hallie out of the room.

Aranor was still standing there, his hand on his cheek where Hallie'd slapped him. He was staring at the door with a look of- hey, I knew that look. It was one I'd seen one too many times in the mirror back before Iris and I had finally started dating. Did Aranor like Hallie? Yeesh... that explained a lot. We've got a love-hate relationship going on here. I smirked at him, satisfied with myself for knowing his secret. Then I walked out of the room.

Just in time to slam into a red-faced Iris. I grabbed her by the shoulders, but she fought to get around me. "Let me at him!" she hissed. "I'm fed up with this jerk!"

"Iris," I said, trying to calm her down, "violence isn't the answer, and besides, I don't think Aragorn would take too kindly to you shooting fireballs at his son."

She looked up at me pleadingly. "It'd only be a small one. Or better yet, just a windstorm. Maybe we could send him to Oz."

"No."

Iris sighed in surrender. I put my arm around her and led her away from the training room. She told me that Liz had lost track of Hallie, so she could be pretty much anywhere in the palace. I wasn't too worried about Hallie. She'd turn up. She always did.

So I thankfully enjoyed the rest of my day, which, interestingly enough, was Aranor-free. Iris and I stopped by the infirmary where we visited with Haldir. Liz showed up a few minutes later and we all had a fun time, recounting our adventures and laughing. Hallie didn't show up until dinner, and even then, she didn't talk much.

I wondered if our day would be as interesting tomorrow.

**Hallie - December 17th - A Heart to Heart Conversation**

I'd been deliberately avoiding Aranor for the past two days. It's a lot harder than it should be, considering this palace is huge. Unfortunately, avoiding Aranor also means avoiding the training center... but I've actually had enough of swordfighting for now. It's not that fun without a partner. I missed being able to spar with Aragorn. Back in Rivendell, we'd sparred everyday with staffs, swords, and spears. We'd thrown daggers together and he'd even trained me a bit with the bow and the axe, though it was quite obvious my specialty had been the sword.

So... fighting with a dummy wasn't fun. Because no matter how hard you poke them, dummies don't move. It's basically like talking to a wall. I was so frustrated. And right now, for lack of anything better to do, I was sitting in a tree. Not that I didn't like trees, of course, but you can only sit in them for so long.

I'd figured out that Aranor did not frequent the gardens, and for that matter, neither did anyone else. Pretty much no one had entered the gardens since I took up my post in the tree at dawn. Bored from sitting in the tree, I slid down the trunk silently. I was reminded of my sneaking up on Aragorn in Rivendell, and I smiled.

I wandered through the palace for about an hour before I found my way out to the courtyard which contained the White Tree. I stared at it for a long moment as I walked around the guards and out onto the long bastion. I reached the edge and stopped, staring out at the black mountains that separated Mordor from the rest of Middle Earth. Thankfully, the sky was a deep blue as far as the eye could see, and there didn't look to be any activity over in the dark lands.

I was caught up for a moment in thinking about the War of the Ring, and our own journeys last time we were here. We'd arrived last time because Raordell had brought us. But this time... I'd flipped my coin and it had landed on Liz' book and now... here we were. My intuition told me we weren't here simply to enjoy the scenery, though.

Suddenly I heard footsteps behind me. I whirled around and was surprised to see Aragorn walking towards me. "Hello, Hallie," he said, coming to a stop beside me. I just kind of gaped at him. I hadn't seen him hardly at all since we arrived.

"Someone's out and about."

He smiled. "I've hardly had time to talk to any of you, and I apologize for that. I also hear you've been sparring with one of the dummies in the training room. That must have been terribly boring."

I laughed. "It was." Guessing we actually had some time to talk now, I ventured to ask him how life had been in the past seventeen years. I still couldn't wrap my head around my being gone for that long.

"Well, after you left, Gandalf called in the eagles. He dropped Legolas, Gimli, Haldir, and me in Mirkwood. We stayed with Thranduil for a couple of days while Haldir healed. I then received news that Arwen had come to Minas Tirith. When Haldir had regained his strength, he and I headed for home. It was there I learned she was with child. Since then, I haven't seen much but the halls of Minas Tirith." He looked over at me.

"It's strange to see you going grey after only nine months," I blurted out. It was strange. It was like blinking and then seeing a whole different person.

"It's been seventeen years for me," Aragorn pointed out.

"Touche."

He gave me a strange look, because I guess Middle-earthians don't say 'touche', but he was probably used to my other-worldly 'slang' and didn't comment.

Instead, he looked out into the distance and sighed. "Being king leaves so little time for everything else. I'm practically a prisoner in my own palace. I hardly get to spend any time with my family- and my relationship with my son is hardly the one I'd like." Well...that was unexpected. But I was kind of curious- there had to be a reason why Aranor was such a jerk- and maybe this was why. "My own father was slain when I was very young. I never got to know him. But running a kingdom is not easy, and being a father, I'm afraid, is much harder.

"I suppose the reason Aranor gets into so much trouble outside of the palace is because he wants adventure. My blood runs through his veins, and I'd much rather be running about in the wilds than signing papers. But now my duty is to the people of Gondor."

"I know what you mean...but you should spend time with your son too," I said. I felt bad for Aranor...sort of. He was still a jerk.

"I know. But... it's quite difficult. I've only just managed to get away from enough meetings to talk to you." I could imagine. I wondered how much time Denethor had spent with Boromir... or Faramir for that matter. "If you and my son could learn to get along," he smirked at me. "you could probably practice together without feeling the need to skewer one another- and then neither of you would be as bored."

I scowled. "Not likely." But... I did feel bad about it. Aragorn really wanted us to get along... "I'll try not to skewer him," I muttered, sighing. It wouldn't hurt to start over with Aranor. Especially if it might help Aragorn have a better relationship with his son.

But I still didn't regret slapping him. That kid had it coming.

Aragorn smiled at me. "So... what happened to Legolas and Gimli?" I asked, changing the subject.

"Legolas and Gimli, last I heard, were working with the dwarves in Moria. I sent them a letter telling them you returned about a week ago."

"That's great!" I smiled. "Do you think they'll come to visit?"

"I'm not sure," he said, smiling with me. Suddenly there was a yell behind us and we both turned around. It was one of the guards- he came bounding down the steps shouting something about Rohan. Aragorn grimaced. "I must depart."

I nodded in understanding and turned to look back at Mordor. With that, he walked back towards the palace. I decided to head back to my room to practice a bit with my combat magic. I'd just have to hope nothing exploded.

I was walking back towards the guest wing when I ran into Aranor. I mean, seriously, that guy was everywhere. Ubiquitous, my fourth grade teacher would have called him. Part of me was tempted to scowl at him and then walk on, but I'd promised Aragorn I'd at least be cordial to him. So when he started talking, I stopped to listen.

"Hallie, I'm really sorry. I guess I kind of have been acting like a jerk lately. My parents are just so excited about you guys being here that they spend every free minute they have with me talking about you and I guess I was a little annoyed. I'm sorry... and I'll try to be less of a jerk."

I raised my eyebrows. "Apology accepted." I started to walk away, but then I stopped and turned around to face Aranor.

"Do you want to spar with me?"

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**WHAAAAAAA...? Does Aranor LIKE Hallie? DUN DUN DUN. You'll just have to wait and see. MWAHAHAHAHA!**


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